By Sebastian Galiani* No doubt, we economists believe that incentives matter. Recently, it has been argued that incentives could be used to encourage desirable habits, such as getting regular exercise or having a healthy diet. This has become particularly important in Latin America given its demographic and epidemiological situation (Galiani and Weinschelbaum, 2014). If … [Read more...] about Can incentives improve our habits?
incentives
Punishment pays?
For a mom or a dad, every day is filled with threats and cajoling. We whisper, shout, sigh. If you finish your homework, you can watch TV for half an hour. Please, this is the third time I ask you to stop bouncing that ball off the wall. One more and I will take it away for the rest of the week! STOP! Gone forever! Like most moms and dads, I was properly schooled on the … [Read more...] about Punishment pays?
Three starting points to understand education quality
I recently came across the question: if I was going to identify the main determinants of low quality of education in a given population, where would I start? Asking education system stakeholders involves capturing perceptions that may respond to group interests that do not necessarily provide an answer. Ideally, one would let the data lead to an answer. After spending much … [Read more...] about Three starting points to understand education quality